Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with Royal Mail on the steps it is taking to tackle delays in delivery to the BR7 postcode area.

It is for Ofcom to set and monitor Royal Mail's service standards with powers to investigate and take enforcement action where there are reasonable grounds for concluding Royal Mail has failed to achieve its obligations.

I am aware that Royal Mail continues to have particular service challenges in some postcode areas. I note that Royal Mail management accepts its performance needs to be much better and has started to address this, for example, by recruiting an additional 3,000 postmen and women so far with a further 500 permanent delivery positions a week going forwards.